The Fallen Leaf
by Element-Chaos
Summary: At the end Naruto will tell one boy about the beginning.In the face of death he sheds light on the dark path he followed hoping that the Leaf that is burning will forgive hime for his crimes.He had no choice. Listen as Naruto tells his tale of his falling
1. Chapter 1: The End

Chapter 1: The End

Buildings burned in the distance and the ground trembled as structures fell. The great city of Konoha was falling, the leaf had been caught by a spark and now it was being turned to ash. All around turmoil unfolded as dead littered the streets and Konoha ninja fought the enemies who dared to attack their beloved home and kill those dear to them. It was now that the will of fire became the blaze of justice.

The great hero's of the village came out of retirement to fight off this unholy attack by a man of pure evil. The Hokage could only watch as the greatest enemy known to the ninja world now destroyed the great village and killed those within. The Hokage saw the man's bright crimson eyes that held years of hate and anger within them. Fire erupted form the man's hands and struck more buildings. Then it was tornados, descending from the clouds as though the Gods had sent them, tearing through the village leaving deep gouges and even more innocent lives lost in their wake.

Lightning flashed all around striking the ground and sending large plumes of black smoke curling into the air where the clouds churned and it began to rain slowly, a slight drizzle until finally the rain came heavily only it had no effect on the fire that seemed to grow larger. The Hokage fell to her knees and wept as she saw the chaos the single man was causing. His eyes of evil gleamed with glee and his blond and black hair swirled around dangerously. He wore a pair of black pants and his red robe was open and flapping around, the sword on his back seemed to pulse an evil energy.

She heard his voice that called out challenging those around him and as they rose to the challenges they fell before his power. None could stand up to him. The Hokage wept more for her precious Leaf was burning in the great bonfire before her. Most of the people she held dear were already dead by now, long ago lost to this person. She looked upon the village again and she saw Armageddon, the end of it all. Even with the combined forces of Suna and Kumo there was no way that the three great Hidden villages could fight this war…

As the Hokage wept a single teenaged ninja was running from the flames hoping to fight to protect his home. He jumped over burning debris and struck enemies as he ran not bothering to stop to finish them off. He felt fire singe his clothes, wind tussled and threw his black spiky hair that hung in his eyes, lightning blinded him briefly and rain slowly drench his hair making it impossible for him to land and always hope he wouldn't fall. His clothes which consisted of a pair of simple black combat pants and a white T-shirt were long torn and were extremely muddy. A short sword bounced on his back its black handle seemed to shrink as the boy ran.

He jumped over a fallen wall where the fire had not yet strayed and he landed in a mud puddle that was deeper then it looked. He lost his balance and fell forward and came to a halt and groaned as he got to his feet again. He was about to take off when he noticed a pair of legs and then a man leaning against the wall, his arms hanging limp at his sides and his breath coming in deep and painful gasps. The boy slowly walked over to the man and he opened his eyes and their eyes met.

"H-Hey are you okay?" the teen asked. His blue icy eyes gazed into the blue eyes of the man in front of him.

"No… I can only watch as my home dies in flames… I should be helping to extinguish these flames of death but I can't…" the man muttered. There was a large red stain on the front of his shirt and it was spreading slowly and the man felt the life leaving himself even as the demon within worked to keep him alive.

"Just wait here, I'll try to get someone!" the boy said worriedly and started to stand to his feet only the strong steely grip of the man stopped him.

"No…" he muttered and a slight breeze picked up making the man's blond hair that hung down in front of his eyes billow in the breeze. The boy looked into the man's eyes sincerely and he understood and slowly kneeled back down. "The way you can save me is by listening to my story…" the man said and the boy nodded.

"Okay… but sir, what's your name?" the boy asked and rested his hands on his knees.

"My name? My name…" the man muttered and he closed his eyes.

"Yes…your name, mine is Uzumaki Hairo…" the boy known as Hairo said.

"Ahh, yes I see… my name is… it was Naruto." Naruto muttered and closed his eyes and began to speak. "My story begins when I was merely 14 years old… I had just graduated from the academy…this was so many years ago now… about 20 actually." and with those words Uzumaki Naruto began to tell his story, his story that involved all of his pain, the story that told why Konoha was now burning to the ground.

"Wait… your name is Naruto?" Hairo asked with a look of fear on his face. He had every right to be fearful and for a good reason.

"Yes…" Naruto muttered and he knew what was coming.

"There has only been one Naruto ever named in this village…on record in the entire Elemental Nations. Are you…are THE Naruto?" Hairo asked and began to creep away from Naruto as though he was a disease.

"Yes…my name was Uzumaki Naruto. Before you flee and report me though…please-" Naruto began to cough here, blood flecked across his chin and Hairo ceased his slow retreat. He realized that this man couldn't harm him in anyway; he was too injured to do so.

"Please just listen… then tell me… if I am the evil person I have been made out to be… yes I have betrayed Konoha but my story will reveal why I did so." Naruto rasped as he closed his blue eyes. Hairo nodded and Naruto began to speak slowly.

"I had just found out that the Kyuubi no Kitsune was sealed within me…. I had beaten my traitorous Sensei Mizuki with the technique I learned in order to 'pass' as he said… and it was time to be organized into cells… Iruka Sensei began to call out Team…"


	2. Chapter 2: The Beginning

Chapter 2: The Beginning

"Team 1 will consist of…" Iruka began to call out.

"Naruto!" A fierce whisper from behind the blond boy said. He turned and found the face of Kiba looking at him intently, the boys little pup Akamaru was asleep on the boys head. "What are you doing here, only graduates are allowed to be on teams?" Kiba said and Naruto shrugged and chuckled.

"Iruka-sensei decided to pass me last night after I showed him my awesome, new, super cools move." Naruto said and turned back around with Kiba looking at him with a stare that showed just how stupid the dog loving boy thought Naruto was.

"Team 10 will consist of Nara Shikamaru, Hyūga Hinata, and Uchiha Sasuke and your sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma." Iruka said and looked at the crowd. He saw the gloom looks of all the girls in the class as they found out that they would not be included on their biggest crushes team. He also saw several glaring at Hinata with pure hatred but the girl didn't seem to notice since she was nervously plowing her index gingers together.

"Team 4…" Iruka droned on while Naruto looked up at the ceiling with a bored look. _The old man told me about the fox finally and we were able to find out that it was the stupid furball's fault as to why I couldn't mold chakra… but still I'm not too happy that I can't control my chakra with the ease that others do._

_Now who do I want on my team… originally I made up a team consisting of Shikamaru since he's smart and laid back like myself and maybe Sakura or Ino even though they are both annoying. They are smart and have good if not perfect chakra control. But considering the fact that Shikamaru was given to Team three I am starting to think that I'm going to get stuck with…_

"Team 7 will consist of Inuzuka Kiba, Yamanaka Ino, and Uzumaki Naruto and your Jōnin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi." Iruka said and looked up at the remaining students. "Team 8 will have Haruno Sakura, Akimichi Chōji, and Aburame Shino and your sensei will be… Yūhi Kurenai… you all have about an hour until your Sensei's shall show up so get to know each other." Iruka said and sat down at his desk and started looking at his roster for next year's students.

_Well at least I got paired up with one person at least… _Naruto thought this to himself as he stood and walked over to where Ino sat in a corner that she had reserved next to Uchiha Sasuke who sat staring at the chalk board dully. He sat down in the empty chair next to her and soon Kiba took the one on her other side and they both looked at her then each other before gazing off into space. _Man, what a numbskull… _Naruto thought and sighed.

"Ok so let's start mingling…" Ino grumbled as she tore her glued eyes off Sasuke with a very apparent effort and turned her gaze on Kiba. "What are your strengths, weaknesses, dreams for the future and all that good stuff?" Ino mumbled and Kiba yawned before answering.

"Let's see…" he muttered and closed his eyes. After a minute of silence a tick appeared above Ino's eyebrow and she smashed her fist into the sleeping Kiba's head. He woke with a start and grabbed his now throbbing head. "OW!" he yelled drawing attention from several other groups of students. "Alright then you psycho… I'm good at close range fighting and I'm good with my techniques when I use them with Akamaru. My biggest weaknesses are my Genjutsu abilities and my fighting style without Akamaru. My dreams for the future are to take over the Inuzuka clan and also breed a new breed of super dogs." Kiba said and put his head back down and waved his hand at Ino. "Now your turn…"

Ino sighed and rubbed her temples trying to massage the annoyance and frustration out of herself but it wasn't working to well. She started to speak in a calm voice trying to mask her apparent disapproval of the team she was put on. "My strengths are my family techniques and my chakra control, my weaknesses are…" she trailed off trying to find some.

"Your love for the emo…" both Naruto and Kiba muttered under their breath and the blond girl didn't seem to hear them.

"Probably my chakra supply and my dreams for the future are to DEFEAT BILLBOARD BROW AND MAKE SASUKE REALIZE THAT HE LOVES ME!" Ino finished with a louder voice that could almost be identified as a scream. She was now looking at the pink haired girl who was staring daggers at Ino and she smiled triumphantly. "MINE!" She screamed and turned around furiously for some reason and Naruto sighed and shook his head.

_Why me… maybe I should have thought about a team with Hinata and Chōji… _he thought before he began to speak. "My strengths…" he began to mutter.

"You don't have any…" Kiba yawned and this earned a small chuckle from Ino.

Naruto shook his head and continued on. "My weaknesses…"

"Just about everything under the sun… from what I've seen." Kiba said as he straightened up and looked Naruto directly in the eye.

"My dreams for the future….I have only one and that is to become the Hokage." Naruto finished and dared Kiba to make fun of the dream.

"Whatever… have fun with that." Kiba muttered and the three became silent and became lost in their -own thoughts.

Soon Kiba was sleeping and a line of drool made its way down his face while Ino was staring off into space daydreaming about Sasuke. Naruto was pacing back and forth in the front of the class and suddenly he stopped and yelled at his team.

"Where is this stupid ass bastard!" he exclaimed and Ino was immediately snapped out of her little bubble of bliss.

"Keep it down you Baka!" she shouted and glared at Naruto.

"Huh…?" Kiba muttered as a snot bubble burst in front of his nose and he woke up. As he sat up straight he wiped the sleep out of his eyes and looked around. "What the hell? Where *yawn* is our sensei?" Kiba asked stretched his soar arms out to either side.

"That's what I want to know, Urasai-Sensei!" Naruto yelled and Ino flinched from the volume of his voice.

"Can you please…" she began and looked at Naruto with fire in her eyes. "SHUT UP!" she screamed and Naruto covered his ears and groaned.

"Damn Banshee…" Naruto muttered and Ino stared at him with a face of pure shock. Before she could do anything to the blond boy who insulted her, the door to the class slowly opened and caught all three of the Genin's attention. They watched as first spiky silver hair poked into the class followed by a masked face of a male.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything…" asked the lazy and mocking voice of Hatake Kakashi.

"You Urasai-Sensei! Why are you so late?" Naruto demanded and Kakashi looked at him.

"Well I can see that you're the first of the team that I don't like." Kakashi muttered and Ino chuckled.

"Serves you right Baka." Ino muttered to him hoping their sensei didn't hear.

"You're the second blonde." Kakashi added and Ino's face fell at the dismissal from her sensei.

Kiba looked at Naruto then Ino before shrugging. "Eh, they're not very likable anyways." He said and put his head down.

"Well I don't like any of you." Kakashi said and Kiba's shoulder twitched. "Meet me on the roof, you have five minutes." Kakashi said before disappearing in a sudden cloud of white smoke.

"Whoa, did he just disappear!" Naruto asked and Ino sighed.

"No you idiot… that was a Bunshin." She muttered and Naruto shrugged.

"Whatever let's go." He said and the three made their way from the classroom to the roof.

On the Roof

Soon the three Genin were sitting in front of their teacher with looks of boredom (Kiba), annoyance (Ino), and impatience (Naruto). The silver haired Jōnin was leaning against the rail on the edge of the roof and was looking at each student individually. His gaze first settled on Kiba who was staring at the sky waiting for the Jōnin to finally talk. _Hmm, an Inuzuka is closer to me then the other two. He uses a dog to fight while I have the Dog summoning contract. Though from what I read on his file he has a short temper and is very defensive about his pride but both are common within his clan. _"You, Doggy, tell me about yourself. ,What's your name, what do you like, what don't you like, and what do you hope to see yourself doing in the future." Kakashi said and Kiba looked at him.

"Shouldn't you go first, you know for an example or something?" the Dog lover asked and Kakashi shrugged.

The Silver haired man tapped his forehead in thought before answering. "Well my name is Hatake Kakashi and I like a lot of things, I dislike some other things but those aren't of your concern, as for my dreams…" Kakashi trailed off before looking at Kiba again. "Now go on." He ordered.

_All we learned was his name… and that he is like a vault of secrets._ Was the shared thought of Team 7.

"Fine…my name is Inuzuka Kiba and I like playing with Akamaru, training with my mom, and taking care of the new pups in my clan. My dislikes are cats….nasty little pests, people who abandon dogs, fan girls, and probably not being with my dog Akamaru which is something that I hate the most. My dream for the future is to take over my clan, raise a new super breed of dogs and… my biggest dream is to reunite wolves back into the Inuzuka clan." Kiba said and Kakashi nodded.

_That's right, the Inuzuka clan used to have a summoning contract with the wolves but it was lost when they became more civilized and started using dogs for companions. _Kakashi thought and then pointed at Ino. "Your next Loud Mouth." He said and Ino glared at him.

"My name is Yamanaka Ino. My likes include being with my family, learning new techniques, thinking about Sasuke-kun, and my hair. My dislikes include tardiness (Kakashi), lazy bastards (Kiba), Sakura, and loud mouths (Naruto). My dream for the future is to marry Sasuke-kun and become a strong Kunoichi." Ino finished her introduction with a blush and a sigh.

_So the blond girl is in love with the annoying Uchiha should make for an interesting drama. _Kakashi thought before his gaze wandered over to his final student. "Your turn…" Kakashi muttered while staring at Naruto intently. _This is the kid who mastered the Kage Bunshin in a couple hours, defeated Mizuki, jailor of the Kyūbi no Kitsune… Uzumaki Naruto._

"The names Uzumaki Naruto…" Naruto said and looked at Kakashi with a rebellious look on his face.

"Yeah, go on." Kakashi motioned with his hand.

"Nah, I mean why should I tell you about me when I don't know about you." Naruto said and Kakashi sighed outwardly but inwardly he chuckled. _Finally! Someone with a sense of humor is under my tutelage!_

"I see… well if you insist I guess I'll just have to ignore you from now on." Kakashi muttered.

"As is you could ignore me!" Naruto yelled with a cocky grin plastered on his face. "Anyways, my likes include Ramen… my dislikes include Sasuke Uchiha, and my where I see myself in the future is in Jiji's chair probably!" Naruto finished with a grin.

_Hehe, good luck kid I'll be rooting for you. _Kakashi thought and looked over his three students. "Okay I want all of you to meet me at training field #43 at 7 AM for our first mission!" Kakashi said spreading his arms out wide as though it was a big deal.

"Seriously? We have a mission already?" Ino asked and Kakashi chuckled.

"Nope, this is just some survival training only…" Kakashi trailed off and shook his head. "Nah, I don't wanna scare you guys." Kakashi said this and waved his hand dismissing the thought.

"Oy, I'm not scared of shit! Tell me!" Naruto demanded and Kiba seconded him.

"Are you trying to insult me or something?" the dog user roared.

Kakashi looked at them and grinned behind his mask. _I'm starting to like this bunch. _He thought this before speaking to the group. "You see… that Genin exam you took wasn't real. It just sorted out the potentials from the failures." Kakashi said and all three 'Genin's' faces went blank. "This survival training will test you and tell me whether or not you are ready to become Genin. Just so you know…" Kakashi said and leaned forward and whispered. "This test has a 66% failure rate."

At these final words all three Genin went stock still and stared at Kakashi with looks of pure horror. The silver haired Jōnin looked at each facial expression and clicked his tongue. "I told you that you'd be freaked. Anyways don't eat breakfast because you'll puke." Kakashi said and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Are you…serious?" Naruto asked and looked at his team mates. "We passed the first test and this second test is the real one?" the blond haired boy exclaimed.

"Yea… I guess we should head home so that we can prepare for the test." Ino muttered and stood to her feet slowly.

"…This sucks total ass." Kiba muttered and jumped to his feet and walked towards the door. Ino followed behind him closely but Naruto stopped them both with his next words.

"Wait, shouldn't' we like train together before tomorrow so that we can all pass?" Naruto asked and Kiba snorted.

"Why? It's an all for one and none for all kind of thing, why should we help each other?" the boy asked and Naruto shrugged and mumbled a quick response.

"'Cause we're a team I guess?" he answered Kiba's question and the brown haired boy laughed. Naruto watched the mocking laughter and grumbled. "Fine then…" the blond said and got to his feet. "I'll see you when you fail." Naruto finished and pushed past both Ino and Kiba.

_Maybe he's right… _Ino thought before dismissing the thought. _Nah, I have to focus on passing so that I can see MY Sasuke-Kun!_ The girl mentally squealed and took off running for the steps.

_Stupid team mates… thinking we should try to risk our own chance for another! What does he think the purpose of this test is? _Kiba thought and shuffled down the stairs.

"Stupid Dog Boy thinking he's so cool and shit!" Naruto grumbled to himself as he kicked a rock down the road he was walking on. As he walked and grumbled to himself people glared at him with the normal looks due to his prisoner but before they said anything they noticed the Hitai-ate on his head and thought better of it. Naruto didn't even notice the looks since they were so common now days and continued on with his rant. "Can't wait to kick his ass." He said and pivoted right on instinct so that he was sitting in Ichiraku's Ramen stand.

"Hey Naruto-Kun how is your day so far?" Ayame asked sweetly as she leaned over the counter in order to converse with Naruto.

"Oh, hey Aya-onii-san … not much I guess. I just found out who my teammates and Sensei are. Other than that nothing…" Naruto mumbled and sighed. "I'll take the usual."

"Already noted like usual. Anyways, tell me what's really going on in that blond head of yours, I know you to well in order to just accept the fact that nothing is wrong Naru-kun." Ayame said while rubbing Naruto's hair in a playful manner.

"Fine… I just found out that the first Genin test I took wasn't the real one… I have to take the real one tomorrow and there's a 66% percent dropout rate!" Naruto exclaimed and threw his hands up. After finishing the statement he let his head fall and bang against the table. "I don't know what to do."

Ayame looked at Naruto sadly before patting him on the back. "I know what will make you feel better." She said as she walked into the kitchen to start making Naruto some Ramen. As she disappeared in the kitchen her father appeared in her place.

"Oh, Naruto! How are you?" The old man asked.

"Oh what's up Old man? Not much here… just ninja crap." Naruto said tapping his forehead protector.

"Ah, I see. So you already ordered with Ayame I see." Ichiraku said as he leaned against the counter. Naruto decided that he wasn't really in the mood for talking and was about to put his head down when a voice stopped him from doing anything.

"I'll get what he's getting." Iruka said as he sat down beside Naruto. After he saw Ichiraku nod he turned his head to the side and grinned at Naruto. "Hey Naruto, how's it going?" he asked and Naruto stared at him.

"What do you mean? You never told us that we would have to take a second test!" Naruto almost yelled and Iruka sighed at the blonds' sudden outburst. He knew that Naruto might get a bit angry with him but he was already prepared with a little talk for the blond.

"Naruto, if I had told you then you wouldn't have taken the original exam seriously. Plus it would make people who didn't pass feel even worse to know that the purpose of the exam was to weed the weaker ones out from the stronger ones." Iruka explained and Naruto stared at him with an apprehensive look. There was a moment of silence as Naruto turned back to the counter as Ayame set a bowl of Ramen down in front of him.

It took Naruto a few minutes longer then it usually did to finish the bowl but when he was done he smiled at the shop owners. "Put it on Jiji's tab." He said and got up from his stool. He began to walk away when all of a sudden he stopped, he didn't turn around but his words were directed at Iruka. "Iruka-sensei… would you have just let me go? I know that you didn't tell us for a reason but still… it sucks knowing that that test was to wean us out and even then it was based only on our ability to produce a Bunshin." After these words left his mouth the blonde ducked under the curtain and disappeared from sight.

_Naruto…_ Iruka thought as he watched the curtain wave from the sudden disturbance it felt. He slowly turned back around and met the sad gazes of Ayame and Ichiraku and sighed. He pulled his bowl of Ramen towards him and slowly began eating.

Naruto was up still, attacking a training dummy he had set up in his room. He threw a punch at its face and as it collided he jumped sideways and threw a kick at the legs.

"If Kakashi-sensei does this I'll do that!" Naruto said as he swept the dummy's legs to the side and came up at its chin with an uppercut.

"But if he blocks this then…" Naruto muttered and acting as though the dummy grab his hand, he brought his knee up into the groin of the dummy. "I"LL KILL HIS CHILDREN!" Naruto roared triumphantly.

**Author's Notes: Sorry for the wait and the horrible quality of the chapter. I was going to have it be longer but in order to update all my stories for Christmas I have to use shorter chapters. This is just some development for now so please bare with me. I hope to update later and give you guys a better chapter. **


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